TAIPING: Tekah airport, one of the country’s oldest having been built by the British in 1940, has been chosen as the hub for Global Flying Hospitals (GFH), an international body that brings humanitarian medical support to developing countries.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the flying hospital's local representatives had picked Tekah over a few shortlisted sites recently and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed within a few months.

He said GFH plans to use the Tekah airport as its landing hub to cater for its A310A Airbus aircrafts, to fly in patients and supplies.

Classic structure: Tekah airport in Taiping, built in 1940, has been selected as the regional hub for Global Flying Hospitals.
Tajol Rosli said Mercy Malaysia had recently signed an MoU with GFH, enabling the former to operate flying hospitals during emergency crises around the region.

(At the signing ceremony, GFH founder and chairman Neil Newton had said that the body intends to form a fleet of 10 large aircraft and supplementary helicopters and smaller planes to help Mercy create a broader footprint to meet the needs of the people in various regions in emergencies and disasters.)

Tajol Rosli said that the Tekah airport refurbishment was part of a RM3bil plan by the private sector, subject to Federal Government approval.

“The expansion of Tekah airport’s runway will entail the acquisition of 450ha of land and some (terraced) houses located around its fringes,” he said, adding that no terminal would be built other than a few small offices to house the Immigration and Customs Departments

TAIPING: Glorious tulips which have drawn visitors to Bukit Larut here may soon be admired all year round.

Ever since the inception of the hill's tulip farm in 2002, visitors can only see the blooms for three months – from December to late February.

“Tulips are a seasonal flower in Holland, where we import the germinated bulbs from,” said tulip farm operator Datuk Kamarulbahrain Zainuddin, when explaining its limited period of bloom.

“Many visitors who visited the hill before December or after February were disappointed when they found no blooming tulips at our farm, so we have recently turned to Australia as an additional source,” he said.

Normally blooming from March onwards, the Australian bulbs would be germinated on Bukit Larut itself, he added.

Pretty sight: Visitors admiring blooming tulips at Bukit Larut in Taiping on Monday.
“We have been told that in a controlled environment the lifespan of the ungerminated bulbs from Australia can be extended even longer than three months so, if we can germinate them in batches, visitors may view them year round,” said Kamarulbahrain.

The bloomers are sold at RM5 per pot but Kamarulbahrain said he had no plans to increase the price despite escalating import costs.

“Even if we sold them at RM10 each, we would still be losing money but this is an obligation we must undertake in view of the state government’s trust in us,” he said.

Kamarulbahrain, who was given a 25-year lease by the Perak government to undertake the tulip-growing project around Cendana Hut, a refurbished colonial bungalow located some 1,200m above sea level, recently submitted a proposal to refurbish a similar bungalow, the Tempinis Hut, nearby.

“Once approved, there will be more rooms for overnight visitors in addition to the existing six rooms at Cendana Hut and the other rest houses operated by the district office on the hill,” he said.

Kamarulbahrain said that in view of the growing demand for accommodation he also planned to provide a camping site for backpackers who prefer the outdoors.

“It will have safety features like fences to prevent wild boars from trespassing,” he said.

Visitors can visit the hill, reputed to be the country’s first hill station, by taking a jeep ride operated daily by the Larut Matang and Selama district office from 8.30am to 5pm at RM4 per return trip.

TAIPING: Tekah airport, one of the country’s oldest having been built by the British in 1940, has been chosen as the hub for Global Flying Hospitals (GFH), an international body that brings humanitarian medical support to developing countries.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the flying hospital's local representatives had picked Tekah over a few shortlisted sites recently and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed within a few months.

He said GFH plans to use the Tekah airport as its landing hub to cater for its A310A Airbus aircrafts, to fly in patients and supplies.

Classic structure: Tekah airport in Taiping, built in 1940, has been selected as the regional hub for Global Flying Hospitals.
Tajol Rosli said Mercy Malaysia had recently signed an MoU with GFH, enabling the former to operate flying hospitals during emergency crises around the region.

(At the signing ceremony, GFH founder and chairman Neil Newton had said that the body intends to form a fleet of 10 large aircraft and supplementary helicopters and smaller planes to help Mercy create a broader footprint to meet the needs of the people in various regions in emergencies and disasters.)

Tajol Rosli said that the Tekah airport refurbishment was part of a RM3bil plan by the private sector, subject to Federal Government approval.

“The expansion of Tekah airport’s runway will entail the acquisition of 450ha of land and some (terraced) houses located around its fringes,” he said, adding that no terminal would be built other than a few small offices to house the Immigration and Customs Departments

HoHHh...! Sounds gr8!!

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THE ships once ferried hopeful traders determined to return to their lands with riches in hand.

Packed onboard the liners were wares of all kinds – porcelain, armour, bronze, earthen-ware and even treasures like elephant tusks.

It was the 17th century and the Straits of Malacca was abuzz with hundreds of mer-chants from far and wide trying to sell their wares and earn riches.

These merchants from as far as China, India, Arabia and Persia braved the choppy waters on their way to trading ports on their warships.

Many of these ships, however, never made it to the ports.

Precious cargo:Ceramic ware and earthenware from the Desaru ship found off the coast of Johor.
They sank instead; some due to human error, some to the ravages of war and others to accidents.

Today, thanks to modern technology, 13 of these ships have been discovered and their artefacts are showcased at the new Maritime Archaeology Unit in the Perak Museum.

“We never had the resources for maritime archaeology. But over the years, many people have discovered artefacts left behind by these shipwrecks.

“These wrecks are like time capsules holding ancient items that tell us much of history,” said Museums Malaysia Department director-general Datuk Dr Adi Taha.

Since the unit opened in 2001, he said, 10 divers, including two females, had been trained to take part in the country’s under-water archaeological expeditions.

“We hold them twice a year at best. They are very expensive to organise because of the equipment needed to excavate the items,” said Dr Adi.

For the next six months, artefacts from 12 of the sunken ships will be on display at the Perak Museum in Taiping, for the Maritime Archeology Exhibition.

The ships are Tanjung Simpang Mangayau found near Kudat in Sabah; Turiang found in the South China Sea; Nanyang, Desaru and Risdam found near Johor; Long Quan, Wanli, Singtai and Xuande found near Terengganu; Royal Nanhai and Nassau found in international waters off Negri Sembilan and Diana in Malacca.

The 13th ship that has been discovered is yet to have its remains excavated.

The travelling exhibition was first held in Terengganu before it was moved to Perak.

“Many people these days don’t find it exciting to learn about Malaysian history. But they should because it is a part of them,” said Dr Adi after the opening of the exhibition recently.

SWINGING from a thick vine like Tarzan, it was barely minutes before one of the world’s best rock climbers, 16-year-old David Lama conquered the famous ‘Needle of Tambun’ limestone cliff in Ipoh, Perak.

Modern day Tarzan: The nimble Austrian Lama, 16, swinging from a thick vine dangling off the ‘Needle of Tambun’ limestone cliff.
The fastened bolts on the rock were hardly a necessity for the pint-sized Lama, who made the climb look as effortless as walking up a flight of stairs.

In reality, the unique 80m high rock formation sandwiched between two limestone hills at the Lost World of Tambun water park is a tricky climb because of its slippery limestone surface.

To the Austrian Lama and five other world's top climbers who arrived in Malaysia last week to film a documentary, Perak’s beautiful limestone hills were not only joy to climb but also to look at.

Cliffhanger: The agile Belgian Lachat scaling one of the most dangerous limestone formations at the Lost World of Tambun in Ipoh.
The documentary, a joint effort between Malaysia’s Camp5 rock-climbing gym and Mammut, a Swiss rock-climbing equipment brand, will feature the team climbing some of the 400 million-year-old hills in Perak and Perlis.

“Malaysia is blessed with all these beautiful hills and all these unique rock formations.

“Once explored, they can be made accessible to tourists interested in climbing,” said Camp5 managing director Patrick Andrey, who suggested to the crew to choose Malaysia as the film location.

He was speaking to reporters during a climbing demonstration to the media and Ipoh Datuk Bandar Datuk Mohamad Rafiai Moktar recently.

Andrey said that although many of the hills were potential climbing destinations, some might not be easily accessed.

He urged the Malaysian Government to develop the areas and turn rock-climbing into a tourism product.

“I have seen many beautiful hills before but to have rocks collectively like this is very special,” said Andrey, who had developed ‘Nyamuk’, the only climbing site in Batu Caves.

He added that this being Visit Malaysia Year, the government should consider pooling efforts into environmental tourism, instead of building more and more hotels.

“Those who come here, come here for its natural surroundings. We don’t need fancy hotels to enjoy that,” said Andrey.

Lost World of Tambun general manager Calvin Ho said that the team had already bolted 50 routes along the many limestone hills located within the water park area and the sites would soon be opened to the public for rock climbing.

Cant wait get rid of the Biggest "Paid" Carpark of the World - NSE. And the new West Coast Highway will bring a new life to all coaster town in Perak.

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Lifeline for K- Euro

BY JOSE BARROCK

IT'S an announcement that has been so long awaited that many can be forgiven for not remembering it anymore.

But according to sources, the long drawn out process of the 216km West Coast Expressway project will soon be awarded to Konsortium LPB Sdn Bhd. In fact, as soon as next week, say sources.

Konsortium LPB is 64.2% owned by Kumpulan Europlus Bhd and its fate has been hanging on tenterhooks due to some vacillation and rethinking on the Government's part.

In fact, the project was first mooted back in 1996, but was delayed, due to several factors.

It is understood that the last stumbling block has now been overcome. Sources say the Economic Planning Unit gave its stamp of approval for the project a couple of weeks ago after meeting up with the top brass from K-Euro.

Much of the delay was believed to have been the high price tag of some RM3.1bil to construct the 216km highway, which stretches from Taiping in Perak, to Banting in Selangor and runs parallel to the North-South Expressway.

It is further understood that the highway may take as long as three years to complete and that Konsortium LPB will be given a 33-year concession to operate the highway.

Other than K-Euro, the other shareholders of Konsortium LPB include the Perak and Selangor state Governments.

The award of this contract could be a boon to K-Euro as the West Coast Expressway project is expected to generate as much as RM42bil in revenue over the entire concession period.

It is slated to be the third longest highway in the country, after the North-South Expressway, which is about 966km long and the East Coast Highway, spanning about 330km.

The West Coast Expressway will ease the congestion along the North-South Expressway, which is at times utilised by as much as 1.2 million vehicles a day.

For the nine months ended October last year, K-Euro posted a net loss of RM114.1mil on the back of RM26.7mil in sales and posted a loss per share of about 24.1 sen for the period.

The company’s property development unit Talam Corp Bhd in which K-Euro has 43% equity in also suffered losses.

In its notes, which accompany its financial results, K-Euro says that its prospects are hinged on the clinching of the West Coast Expressway among others.

The securing of the West Coast Expressway is also important, as it would pave the way for a new shareholder in the form of construction giant IJM Corp Bhd to acquire a 25% stake in K-Euro, and possibly turn the company’s fortunes around.

In May 2005, IJM announced its plan to acquire as much as 30% equity in K-Euro for some RM33.1mil or about 28 sen a share. This plan however is dependant on K-Euro securing the West Coast Expressway project.

IJM has proposed to acquire the equity in K-Euro currently held by several privately held companies namely Intelbest Corp Sdn Bhd, Pengurusan Projek Bersistem Sdn Bhd, Ambang Sepakat Sdn Bhd and some of the equity held by the company’s president and chief executive Tan Sri Chan Ah Chye @ Chan Chong Yoon.

Both companies already have an existing working relationship, having ventured together to build Shah Alam’s Canal City, which is a property development project with a gross development value of about RM6.5bil.

Both Chan and IJM’s chief executive officer and managing director, Datuk Krishnan Tan are familiar with each other’s styles having worked closely together with Selangor state development outfits, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor and its unit Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd many years ago.

At an interview with BizWeek a few weeks ago, Tan had indicated that the decision to award the West Coast Expressway would be made in February this year.

He had said, “You don't get good deals when everything is sweet and rosy.

You get some decent assets and decent businesses when some level of distress is there.”

And at the outset at least, it does seem like IJM will benefit handsomely. With the acquisition into K-Euro set to take off, IJM’s order book seems likely to swell.

Other than the acquisition of K-Euro, IJM is also in the midst of taking over a competitor and one of the largest construction players in the country, Road Builder Holdings (M) Bhd.

The merged entity of IJM and Road Builder has an order book of about RM4bil.

With the West Coast Expressway under its belt, the company’s order book is likely to swell to the region of RM8bil, with some of K-Euro’s other projects.

With IJM at the helm it is also likely that K-Euro’s property development unit, Talam will benefit as IJM’s property unit, IJM Properties Sdn Bhd is relatively active and has a presence in India as well.

Talam has a large land bank of about 6,000 acres located in areas such as Selayang, Kota Damansara and Bukit Beruntung among others.

For the nine months ended December last year, IJM raked in RM144.7mil in net profits from RM1.6bil in revenue, which marks a gain of 21% and 23% respectively from a year ago.

KUALA KANGSAR: A jetty costing about RM100,000 will be built at the Sungai Perak rest and recreation (R&R) area to enable users of the North South Express-way to visit the royal town on boats.

At present, motorists must make a detour by exiting via the Kuala Kangsar toll plaza to make such visits, said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali yesterday.

Speaking to reporters after attending the Kuala Kangsar Municipal Council general pur-pose meeting here, Tajol Rosli said users of the boat service would probably need to spend 15 minutes to reach the royal town.

Tajol Rosli said this was among the decisions made at the meeting.

The meeting also agreed to re-locate council-owned stalls on Jalan Daeng Selili, designated as a protocol road, to a new site be-side the Kuala Kangsar railway station.

Tajol Rosli said this was to faci-litate a road upgrading exercise at Jalan Daeng Selili in conjunction with the birthday celebration of the Sultan of Perak.

He said another protocol road, Jalan Taiping, was also under the upgrading exercise.

Five private workshops there will also be relocated to a nearby industrial area.

KUALA LUMPUR: Pioneer Bio Industries Corp Sdn Bhd (PBIC), Malaysia’s first Nipah or mangrove palm-based ethanol producer, plans to set up 15 refineries nationwide costing about RM15bil within the next five years given the increasing global demand for the commodity.

The group’s maiden ethanol refinery in Trong near Taiping, Perak is slated for operation by end-2008.

Chairman Md Badrul Shah Mohd Noor said PBIC had secured a five-year ethanol future trade order (FTO) from one of the world’s largest trading conglomerates.

“PBIC is actively seeking strategic partnerships with potential investors and ready to go global. Our ethanol (even before commencing production) has received overwhelming enquiries mostly from international traders,” he told a media briefing here yesterday.

Badrul said PBIC’s core assets were its patented Nipah-based agro technology and the ethanol FTO worth over US$66bil from 2009 to 2014.

Excluding the government funding, Badrul said PBIC’s paid-up capital would increase to RM8bil by end-July from RM100,000 currently.

According to Badrul, the Perak government has initially approved 10,000ha of its Nipah forests for PBIC to source the Nipah sap - the main raw material - for its ethanol production. For every 10,000ha, he said “some 290 million barrels of ethanol or 6.48 billion litres can be produced and able to generate a profit of about RM16bil per year.”

PBIC will pay the Perak government RM324mil a year for the rights to source the Nipah sap from the latter’s Nipah forests.

There are 110,000ha of Nipah forests identified in Peninsular Malaysia (half are in Perak) and about two million ha in Sabah and Sarawak.

Badrul said PBIC would also look at setting up a terminal and port to facilitate the export of ethanol worldwide. “We plan to locate the port close to PBIC’s proposed RM30bil Biotech City,” he added.

Badrul said the Government was expected to announce the actual location of Biotech City and its components this year.

PBIC is a subsidiary of Pioneer Vaccination Biotech Corp Sdn Bhd, which has been in the biotechnology business since 2003.

Really looking forward someone will invest a 4-5 star hotel and a shopping mall in this town which will reall catalyst the economi in Taiping.

Columbia Asia gets RM70m loan

by keith hiew

KUALA LUMPUR: Columbia Asia Group of Companies Sdn Bhd has signed a RM70mil financing deal with Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd and Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd for three of its hospitals.

Columbia Asia said the hospitals - in Taiping, Kota Damansara and Nusajaya - would cost about RM45mil each.

Its managing director Richard Evans told a press conference after the signing ceremony yesterday the Taiping and the Kota Damansara hospitals would be completed by next year while the one in Nusajaya was slated for a 2009 completion.

“We would be looking for extra funding for these hospitals which have a total cost of about RM135mil, but we intend to get the buildings up first. Then we will take things one step at a time,” Evans said.

From left: Bank Muamalat Bhd chief executive Datuk Abdul Manap Abd Wahab and Columbia Asia Group of Companies Sdn Bhd managing director Richard Evans exchanging documents at the signing ceremony of the RM70mil Club Deal Al-Istisna Facility on Thursday.
He said Columbia Asia had one medical centre each in Seremban, Miri and Shah Alam, with a fourth slated to open later this year in Puchong.

The group intends to build three more hospices this year in the Klang Valley.

About 65% of Columbia Asia's hospital revenue last year was from insurance companies and employers, Evans said, adding that more Malaysians were getting medically insured.

He added that when the group opened its first hospital in Seremban seven years ago, the expenses of less than 10% of its patients were paid by insurance companies.

The Employees' Provident Fund owns 30% of Columbia Asia, and the group also has centres in India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Bank Muamalat chief executive Datuk Abdul Manap Abd Wahab said the loan carried a pay back tenure of seven years.

CHENNAI, April 18 (Bernama) -- While Malaysian companies are busy venturing into the robust Indian market that offers plenty of investment opportunities, a Perak-based company is doing the reverse.

Home-grown Ipoh Recycling Sdn Bhd will soon have a joint venture with India's listed A.R.S Metal (Pte) Ltd to mine iron ore and process sponge iron, a raw material used in the steel industry and an alternative to scrap iron.

Perak State Industrial Development, Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development chairman Datuk Ramly Zahari said the total investment of the proposed project is estimated to be RM150 million (US$43.5 million) over five years.

"We will benefit from the transfer of technology from India and this project will easily create 500 to 1,000 jobs in the state. This will be a major heavy industry for Perak," he told Bernama after leading a 10-man delegation to Chennai to inspect and assess the venture.

"Besides being a major foreign direct investment for Perak, the project will generate a lot of downstream activities like billets casting for rolling mills and boost the logistics sector."

A memorandum of understanding is expected to be concluded in June while the project is likely to take off in October.

The state government, he added, has earmarked about 39.7 ha in the Kuala Kangsar area for the project, plus an additional 129.5 ha for future expansion.

The Perak State Development Corporation will coordinate and facilitate the project which, once commissioned, can meet one to two per cent of the local demand for sponge iron for the seven leading steel mills in the country

At present Malaysia imports about 200,000 tonnes of scrap metal, valued at almost RM258 million) every month to meet domestic demand.

Ramly said Ipoh Recycling had carried out extensive research on the viability of the project since 2002 and identified A.R.S. as its potential partner as the company has an edge in the steel industry with more than 25 years experience and also has the technology to produce sponge iron.

A.R.S. is a pioneer in the manufacture of thermo-mechanically treated bars and coal-twisted deformed bars for the Indian construction industry.

The Perak company will have a 51 per cent stake in the joint venture with the Indian company having 49 per cent.

"The project will earn about RM13 million (US$4 million) over five years besides benefits from other finished steel products," he added.

TAIPING, April 17 (Bernama) -- The Perak state government will not compromise with squatters and will demolish their homes if they still occupied government land after 2010 which is the deadline to achieve the Zero Squatter target in the state.

Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the state government wanted to resolve the squatter problem completely before 2010 after which, the authorities would take firm action including clearing all squatter settlements in the state.

"We won't compromise any more because the State Exco meeting approves applications for housing lots from squatters totalling between 40 and 80 hectares each week," he told reporters after attending the `Meeting The Client' program for the Larut Matang and Selama District in Changkat Jering, here Tuesday.

He said squatters who had been allocated housing lots by the state government at a premium of RM4,000 were allowed to pay for the land in instalments if they could not afford to pay up in one lump sum.

The Menteri Besar said the state government wanted the squatters who had been allotted the housing lot to build their home on the land instead of selling it to other parties.

In another development, he said the Gua Tempurung area in Gopeng was a tourist spot and settlers who were staying on state government land there had been issued with an eviction notice.

He said this when asked to comment on the protest by about 200 residents of Gua Tempurung against the destruction of their goat farm and vegetable garden in the area to implement a tourism project, namely a film studio which had received a federal government allocation.

Yes for Tesco. Not too sure about Giant in Taiping. But we never know as Giant is expanding fast.

Taiping population hardly grow since 80's. (So do most of the town in Perak).

As not many job oppurtunities there. Hopefully there will be more project like hotel, university, shopping mall, industrial etc bring back the glory period of Taiping on top of what Taiping can offer now, good food, good quality of living, etc.

Seem that Taiping will be a much intersting place after all the project listed in this forum took place.